Page 175 of Well That Happened

Hunter’s voice is next, dry and unimpressed. “You going to text us when you get there? Let us know who’s at the bar? License plate of the Uber driver?”

I roll my eyes in the mirror. “I’ve literally survived this long without a chaperone, thanks.”

Grayson sits up, tousled and shirtless, clearly debating whether to argue. But before he can open his mouth again, Caleb beats him to it.

“Guys. Chill. Let her live. Rilee deserves a night out with her best friend without all of us up her ass.”

Hunter grumbles something under his breath. Probablynot wrong.

I turn to face them, slipping into my boots. “I will, in fact, be alive when I get back. Maybe even slightly buzzed. Try not to fall apart while I’m gone.”

Grayson smirks. “You’re assuming we won’t be at the door like sad dogs watching the window.”

I chuckle. “Honestly. That’s kind of the energy I expect from this house.”

I grab my jacket and head out.

Lexi is already waiting for me at Woody’s, tucked into a booth with a fruity drink and a too-good-to-be-legal red lip. She lights up when she sees me.

“Damn, Ri. Hot girl winter is thriving.”

“Blame the cohabitation glow,” I say, sliding in across from her.

Her brows lift immediately. “Oh? So you’re still in that…whatever that is?”

“You mean my healthy, consensual, mutually adoring throuple-plus-one?” I sip my drink, keeping it light.

She snorts. “It’s fun, sure. But come on. You don’t actually think this is serious, do you?”

I pause.

Because yeah, the sex is fun. But I get the sense she thinks this is some joke.

“They’re… amazing,” I say, slower now. “Like, actually amazing.”

“Okay…” Lexi draws out the word, watching me with curiosity.

“And it’s not just fun,” I say, a little more serious now. “It’s… grounding. Comforting. Insanely supportive. They listen to me, Lex. They see me. Not just the tired nursing student or the walking stress ball—butme.”

Lexi lifts a brow. “So what, you rotate nights or something?”

“It’s not about a schedule. It’s about what I need. Whatweneed. Sometimes I’m with just one of them. Sometimes all three. Sometimes we just study or cook or pass out watching bad TV. It’s not chaos—it’s actually the opposite.”

I swirl the straw in my drink, thinking back to Grayson rubbing my feet while I studied, Hunter carrying me upstairs when I fell asleep on the couch, and Caleb running me a bath just because he could.

“They’re patient. And kind. And annoying as hell sometimes—but they make me feel safe.Wanted. Like I’m the center of something that isn’t going to collapse the second I stop holding it up.”

Lexi blinks, caught off guard by the sincerity.

“That sounds… borderline magical,” she admits.

“It is,” I say. “Which is why I’m not ready to treat it like it’sjust fun. Because it’s not. It matters.”

That’s when her face shifts—her skepticism returning—and she says, “But come on. You don’t actually think this is serious, do you?”

And just like that, the warmth in my chest begins to cool.

When I don’t reply, Lexi leans back, her look skeptical. “Three boyfriends, Ri?”

---